Sony Pictures' new Resident Evil movie director promised to honor the 30-year-old game franchise in five key ways. The horror franchise is getting yet another big screen reboot on September 18, this time from Barbarian and Weapons director Zach Cregger. While the beloved filmmaker is telling his own story in the Resident Evil realm, it will revisit the familiar Raccoon City in a very familiar time period, setting it up for a swarm of Easter eggs and homages, even if fans shouldn't expect Leon S. Kennedy slaying the undead on their screens.
IGN exclusively spoke with Zach Cregger to celebrate Resident Evil's trailer release, where the director broke down some of its biggest moments and Easter eggs while revealing new details about the movie and how it honors the games:
Zach Cregger Confirms His Resident Evil Movie's 5 Biggest Homages
Timeline Placement & Setting
For those wondering how Resident Evil relates to the games, Zack Cregger confirmed that it "takes place alongside the events of Resident Evil 2." That game saw rookie cop Leon S. Kennedy and college student Claire Redfield surviving a T-virus outbreak in Raccoon City, navigating through the RPD police station, the city's sewers, and the NEST laboratory.
The acclaimed director explained that his movie follows "just another dude on another mission on the other side of town," with the events of Resident Evil 2 happening shortly after and just down the road.
Cregger added that the game takes place on "the first night that the T-virus has broken out" in Raccoon City, placing it on September 23, 1998. For context, that places it six days before Leon and Claire go on their mission.
The filmmaker referenced the events of Resident Evil 3 in which Raccoon City was nuked by the U.S. government to contain the T-virus. He was clear that the "nuking doesn't happen in this movie," which makes sense as, in the game timeline, the destruction doesn't come for over a week after the outbreak:
"I know that Raccoon City gets nuked, and I'm a little fuzzy on the timeline of when the nuke drops versus the day Leon sets foot in the police station. That nuking doesn't happen in this movie. This exists on Day 1 in Raccoon City, s*** just went south."
Addressing his Resident Evil flick's canon status, Cregger stated that "it is canon in that it lives in the actual day of reckoning in Raccoon City." However, one could also say it is "not canon" as it doesn't feature a familiar lead character.
The filmmaker's reveal that Resident Evil takes place "over the course of one evening" is an especially interesting homage to the franchise's early entries, where many of the games spanned 24 hours or under:
"It takes place almost in real time. Well, not really, there are a lot of time jumps. But it takes place over the course of one evening. I'm not obsessed with the timeline."
Recreating the Gameplay Experience
Zach Cregger's goal for Resident Evil wasn't to adapt any of the games in the way that 2021's Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City tried (and failed) to. Instead, the Weapons director sought to "make a movie that felt like [his] experience of playing the games that could live in the world of Resident Evil."
The Resident Evil franchise is infamous for its focus on looting and resource conservation, from healing items to ammunition. That will be reflected in the 2026 flick, such as when Bryan finds an empty shotgun and must "comb the house:"
"One of the things that is so integral to 'Resident Evil' is that you're constantly searching for healing items and ammunition. And that's what he's doing in these scenes where he's going through the drawers, he's found a shotgun, he's got no shells, he's gotta find the shells, so he's gotta like comb this house for these vital shells of ammunition."
He added that Bryan, like players, will enjoy a "graduation from gun to gun to gun" across the runtime. While the pistol will be "the first weapon he acquires," he will eventually acquire a shotgun and then an MP5.
Resident Evil is even honing in on the franchise's common obstacle of "keys and padlocks," with the protagonist left searching for a way through the next barrier, "about four times over this movie" in Raccoon City:
"One of the other things that comes directly from the games is the need for keys and padlocks being barriers. If you've ever played one of these games, you know you always come to a locked door and don't have what you need to get to the other side, and you have to go through hell to get the key to get out of here. And so that happens about four times over this movie where he's like, 'What is with all the f***in' padlocks man.'"
That said, Cregger seems to be differing from the traditional game experience with a surprising Resident Evil genre switch-up that adds a "comedic" note to the mix.
Resident Evil Easter Eggs
In IGN's trailer breakdown, Cregger sided with much of the franchise's fandom in declaring Resident Evil 4 to be his "favorite" and the entry that he has "played the most," even if he doesn't find it to be "very scary."
Cregger confirmed that a plant spotted behind Austin in the Resident Evil trailer (which will be glimpsed better in the movie) is the Green Herb that players collect to heal in the fourth game, and he even "recreated the bucket exactly:"
"I took the green herb from 'Resident Evil 4,' and I recreated the bucket exactly... Even though this game probably lives in the world of ['Resident Evil 2'], I just wanted to use a little bit of ['RE4'] just because it's my favorite. And I also have some other items from ['RE4'] scattered about that people will notice."
That familiar herb won't be the end for Resident Evil 4 Easter Eggs in the 2026 horror epic, as Cregger noted that he has "some other items" scattered around.
Cregger also confirmed that, much like the games, Bryan won't be isolated in one location and will instead "slowly" progress through the world between locations.
Bryan Is the Player, Not Leon Kennedy
While some fans have been critical of the Resident Evil movie's lack of characters from the games, such as Leon S. Kennedy, Claire Redfield, and Jill Valentine, Zack Cregger had a very good reason for creating his original protagonist.
The director noted how he didn't want to follow "a badass with military training," but was more interested in a character who reflects the "average gamer:"
"I wanted to do a Resident Evil movie where you're not following a badass with military training, you're following your average gamer like me... I think it's just fun to be following someone with no combat experience as they're walking through hell with a machine gun."
Cregger gave particular praise to Weapons actor Austin Abrams, who plays Resident Evil's lead character, Bryan, explaining how he finds him "fascinating" and the "perfect avatar for the viewer." Honing in on Bryan, the filmmaker declared him to be "lovable, but by no means a badass guy."
Resident Evil has gone to great lengths to "incorporate the visual language of the games into the movie." One way that Cregger has approached that is through camerawork, ensuring it feels like a "third-person" game experience where the viewer still follows where Bryan is looking:
"A lot of this movie is like third person. So there's a steadicam following Austin, our actor, and so it was really a dance between him and our camera operator. So we had a really wide lens, so when he looks left, we pivot around to look left, and when he looks right, we swing around and look right."
The movie may primarily be honoring the third-person style of Resident Evil's older games, but Cregger noted there is a "fair amount of first-person-shooter stuff" as well to honor the more recent games: Biohazard, Village, and Requiem.
The Monsters of Resident Evil
While exploring what is presumably the same sewer system that will eventually be visited by Leon S. Kennedy, Jill Valentine, and Claire Redfield (albeit in a different area of Raccoon City), Bryan encounters what Zach Cregger described as a "gigantic, obese, naked, hairless man just sitting in front of [him]."
Cregger was clear that Resident Evil has no "gigantic hulking Terminator" pursuing Bryan, akin to Nemesis or Mr. X. However, he said that the bald-headed figure could be considered a "little bit of a nod" to Nemesis from RE3.
He also pointed out a mechanic in Resident Evil involving the six-limbed monster crawling out of a house that he said, "might be in some of the games." However, he did say that it "changes and evolves" across Resident Evil and pursues Bryan throughout, perhaps in a similar presence to Nemesis, minus its styling.
Of course, as one would expect from Resident Evil, Cregger will be including the game franchise's most famous foes: T-virus-infected zombies. This virus was unleashed upon Raccoon City by the Umbrella Corporation through rats and contaminated water, according to the games, with its mindless, undead victims being the most frequent obstacle in a Resident Evil game journey.
Surprisingly, Cregger was clear that his September horror flick only has "two scenes, maybe three" featuring the zombies, in order to explore the "fascinating things" that the T-virus can do in new, more creative ways.
